A source within the military who made this known on Thursday night, said that a little more than a Brigade of the Nigerian Army had been moved to the forest where the girls are believed to have been held captive.
He said that the forest shares borders with towns in Adamawa, Yobe, Borno and Cameroon, adding that the different battalions would each launch their offensive from these locations, because of the high caliber nature of the arms and explosives in the hands of the terrorists.
"Let me tell you that fighter jets of the Nigerian Air Force as well as police surveillance helicopters have been mobilised and are waiting for the command to begin the joint security operations for rescue efforts of the abducted schoolgirls" the source said. "Due to the dangerous nature of the operation which will result in soldiers and security agencies encountering booby traps, land mines, ambush and other unknown traps from the side of the terrorists, Air Force fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships and Police surveillance helicopters would carry out round the clock missions to ensure the success of the operation".
Speaking further, the top officer said that the armed forces battalions that will storm Sambisa forest are taking positions around all the access routes into the notorious forest.
He further revealed that the battalions comprised all formations of the Army- those from Signals Corps, Armoured Corps, Ordinance Corps, Intelligence Corps, Infantry Corps, Artillery Corps, Military Police Corps and the Medical Corps.
According to him, the battalions have been positioned in the North, South, East and West of the Sambisa forest so that when the troops move in from all the angles, there will be no escape route for the terrorists.
Aircraft and land equipment including air ambulances, vehicles with mobile medical facilities and a considerable number of medical personnel, are said to have been deployed for the operation to ensure that casualties, if any, are quickly attended to when necessary.
He said that the Federal Government had made available to the security forces night vision equipment, and that specially trained counter terrorist units, anti bomb discovery units, the K 9 Dog units of the Army and the Police, the landmines unit of the army and other specialised units of other security agencies are all involved in the operation.
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